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The list is topped by Bob Cryan, of the University of Huddersfield, with a staggering 67 per cent hike from £219,000 in 2010/11 to £364,564 in 2015/16.

Bournemouth University’s vice chancellor John Vinney’s pay and pension award grew by 53 per cent and the overall package for Professor Paul O’Prey, from the University of Roehampton, increased by 52 per cent.

Launchpad is one of Falmouth University's success stories

The statistics will reignite the row over vice chancellors’ pay at a time when workers in the public sector have suffered years of pay freezes.

It comes as universities minister Jo Johnson unveiled a series of measures to curb deals, including making institutions publish the number of staff who earn more than £100,000 a year.

Falmouth University defended Mrs Carlisle's pay - the 64th highest among British universities - and 34 per cent pay rise saying the university was garnering more and more awards for its excellent teaching, students' experience as well as for its postgraduate business incubation programme, Launchpad.

The THE magazine analysed 114 universities and found that on average leaders received a 15 per cent hike in total remuneration packages including benefits and pension contributions between 2010/11 to 2015/16.

These deals rose on average from almost £242,000 in 2010/11 to just over £278,000 in 2015/16.

At 44 of these institutions, the cost of the leader’s office went up by 20 per cent, or almost 12 per cent in real terms when inflation is factored in.

However at the same time, the average pay for all academic staff dropped in real terms by 2.8 per cent from 2010/11 to 2015/16 and by 3.1 per cent for professors, according to the survey.

The THE examined these 114 institutions because there was no change in leadership between 2010/11 and 2015/16, as overlapping salaries with new arrivals can affect figures.

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However, it also focused on eight institutions where the same vice chancellor has been in place in 2010/11 and in 2015/16.

Among these 57 institutions, eight vice chancellors saw their total pay settlements increase by more than a third in cash terms over this period.

Falmouth University's vice chancellor Anne Carlisle has received a 34 per cent pay rise since 2011

Institutions have defended the packages, arguing they were not out of line with the rest of the sector.

A spokesman for Falmouth University, which has 5,500 students enrolled on its courses, and employs more than 1,100 staff, said: "Falmouth University was awarded gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework this year, coming ninth in the UK out of more than 332 education providers.

"We have also been voted sixth in the UK for student experience. We won the Entrepreneurship Prize at this years Guardian Education Award and our Launchpad programme recently won a global education award in the USA.

"There have never been more students studying at Falmouth University and our commitment to helping them get them the career they want has never been greater."

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He added: "There have never been more staff working at Falmouth University than there are today and there is no pay freeze."

Asked if Mrs Carlisle sat on the remuneration committee, which decides whether the vice-chancellor should receive a pay rise, the university spokesman added: "The vice-chancellor’s pay is set by an independent remuneration committee of the board of governors and the VC does not sit on this committee."

This month Mr Johnson said that the Office for Students, a new regulator, would fine institutions that fail to give "clear justification" for paying vice chancellors £150,000 or more.